Bacolod anti-COVID task force taps Negros lawyers

BACOLOD City – In a bid to exhaust all possible efforts against the dreaded COVID-19 disease, the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Task Force sought the assistance of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Negros Occidental Chapter to address some problems that may be remedied by legal counsel.

In a meeting organized by City Administrator Em Ang and City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan at the Bacolod City Government Center Friday, two main concerns were discussed:

(1) the untruthful data provided in Case Investigation Forms (CIFs) by individuals undergoing swab tests; and

(2) the refusal of some COVID-19 positive patients to be placed in city-prescribed quarantine/isolation facilities.

“These make it more difficult for us to contain the spread of infections,” said Ang, who also sits as the executive director of the EOC Task Force.

The EOC Task Force, created by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, operates at the MassKara Hall of the Bacolod City Government Center 24/7 to maximize the synchronization and proper management of data that are later translated into health protocols and other relevant policies in the city, and for field work assignments of the different action teams concerned.

The distribution and collection of CIFs form part of the data-gathering scheme of the EOC. However, it was discovered recently that some individuals have been dishonest upon filling out these forms.

“Our frontliners in different fields have been working tirelessly to fight the spread of COVID-19. All this time, they have been confronted with people who refuse to cooperate and worse, who lie about their identity, address, telephone numbers or health condition, or who threaten them with lawsuits or physical harm, and deliberately violate our quarantine procedures and health protocols,” Ang said.

According to the city administrator, these misrepresentations in the CIFs jeopardize the EOC’s data management, which consequently result to failure in the proper and immediate tracing, extraction, isolation, and treating protocols for these people and their close contacts.

IBP-Negros Occidental president Atty. Edmundo Manlapao Jr. said they are willing to help the EOC regarding this particular concern.

Manlapao enjoined other members of IBP-Negros Occidental to volunteer in giving legal assistance to commissioned personnel who conduct “extraction” of COVID-19 positive individuals who refuse to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine in the isolation facility provided by the Bacolod City government.

The names and contact numbers of these volunteer lawyers will then be furnished to the Bacolod City Legal Office, headed by Atty. Joselito Bayatan, who invited the IBP local officers to the meeting.

“If legal issues arise during extraction of a COVID-19 positive individual, authorities involved in the operation may contact any lawyer whose name appears in the list for legal advice,” said Manlapao.

This, according to the IBP-Negros Occidental president, is their “way of contributing to our government’s effort in stopping the spread of COVID-19.”

Joining Manlapao in the meeting were Atty. Gorgonio Ybanez and Atty. Marygold Lemoncito-Chuatico, public relations officer and director of IBP-Negros Occidental, respectively.

Also present were National Inter-Agency Task Force against COVID-19 (NIATF)-Visayas chief implementer Major General (Retired) Mel Feliciano and his wife Mia; Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, EOC Task Force assistant head; Councilor Lady Gles Pallen, president of Liga ng mga Barangay; City Health Officer Dr. Ma. Carmela Gensoli, other EOC Task Force heads, and executive assistants. (PIO)